All is Looking Good...

Went for my first midwife's appointment for a long time this week, and all was looking good with me and Piglet! The blood results are back - GREAT results for my triple test (just 1 in 4890 chance of having Downs, and the average for my age is around 1 in 250! So thats great!), great Iron levels, great sugar levels in my blood and my weight is looking ok for the stage I am at... so I am a happy bunny; "Text book" stuff according to my midwife (perhaps she is less of a moron than I originally thought... heh). Despite the fact I listen to Piglet regularly on my own doppler, it was nice somehow to have the midwife listen - and she actually could be bothered to work out the heart rate for me - a nice steady 144bpm... fits in with my theory of Piglet being a boy!

All else is going good. Have got Tracy coming over tomorrow - we are having a sisterly bonding session (I have the afternoon off work) - so are planning on a spot of shopping and going for a nice meal. She is staying over as Sam is having the boys, so that will be nice. We have a few concerns about Henry at the moment (stuff raised by a teacher at his school) - so fingers crossed for a happy ending to that little worry.

Other than that = looking forward to the weekend! I am knitting a gorgeous little sweater for Piglet (hahaha - don't laugh McKee), and we have football on Saturday, so all in all it should be a good one! I am still keeping well... just trying to motivate myself into doing a little bit more exercise - to prevent me from turning into a beachball too soon!

Lots of love to you all
Hayls
xxx

RoutanBabymaker3000

Our baby! ;-)…. the scary thing is that it looks a little like my Nephew, Oscar!

RoutanBabymaker3000

Handy tip: If you want to make your own, don’t just click “New Baby” – start it from scratch by clicking here, otherwise the link will always link back to my baby if you send it on! :-)

Happy Birthday Dear Piggy....

First off - a very slightly belated Happy Birthday to my dearest Piggy Wiggy (it was in fact yesterday) - 42, and you don't look a day over.... 41 ;-)

We had a great weekend - if not slightly exhausting. I went into London on Friday, for my bi-weekly (less if I can manage it!) catch up with the gang there... it was nice actually. I got a few funny looks from people who I guess couldn't work out whether I have been eating too many pies (which in fact I have!) or whether I am pregnant. I confirmed to a few that I was and got some really nice comments and congratulations. I took John out to lunch at Borough Market (it was his birthday too on Sunday - the big 40 for him!!) - we had delicious bratwurst and all the trimmings, and some lummy cakes... yay! On Friday evening I met up with a girl called Louise I met on a pregnancy forum (sad I know!), who just happens to live in my area. She is just a week or so ahead of me and we will be using the same hospital etc... so it is nice to compare bumps and talk of things that nobody else in the world could conceivably be interested in! ;-)

Saturday I went and finished my shopping for Mark's birthday (I bought him some much needed clothes from TK Maxx, and some wooden paddles for his Canadian Canoe), and in the afternoon practically collapsed on the sofa for several hours and watched crap TV... very out of character! I just seem to have been lacking energy all weekend really - perhaps the baby is having a growth spurt or something! In the evening we went to a joint 40th birthday party for twin colleagues of his! His work crowd are a really really nice and friendly bunch - they all love Mark to bits, and were delighted that he is going to be a Dad. Yet again though I found complete strangers coming up and stroking my belly - I get the feeling that as the belly grows this situation will only get worse! I now realise how irritating it is, and feel bad for all the times I have squeezed other people's baby bumps. I am desperately trying to convince myself that I always asked first... ;-) I might invest in one of those t-shirts that says "If you touch my bump, I punch your face" (or similar!) ;-)

Sunday, being Mark's birthday, we had lots of visits from his family in the morning. Caroline and Phil and the girls came over, and we sat in the lovely spring sunshine in the garden and had tea and sweeties. His Brother and Alison popped over with a card at lunchtime, and his Dad came for lunch and for the afternoon. I cooked hot dogs for lunch (with a side serving of buttered spinach - my big-time craving!), and we had carrot cake for dessert (Mark's fave). In the afternoon we went to the garden centre at Fordham, and then on to Wicken Fen for a lovely walk. We got home - all had a sleep in the lounge (hahaha - what a sight), until Mark's Dad' snoring woke us all up... and in the evening Mark and I went to The Plough at Coton for supper. It was a lovely day!

Slightly concerned about Mark's Dad at the moment. He has on and off for some 20+ years now complained of feeling 'low' at times, and seems convinced that there is something wrong with his "blood". His symptoms seem in all honesty to be slightly vague, and more recently more indicative of depression than anything else. However... recent blood tests have shown that he has low red blood cell count periodically, and the hospital has decided to pursue some tests - including a tube down the throat and then up his bottom tomorrow (I have forgotten the name of the procedure!) to check that he isn't losing blood anywhere in his digestive tract, or to see if there are any other obvious problems. He seems to have gotten himself in a right old state about it - and to be honest, part of me wonders whether he will actually go through with the tests tomorrow as he seems so frightened of them. I actually feel little concern about the outcome of the test (anything serious would have seen him off after 20 years or so), but obviously we hate to see him so down about it. I wish that there was something we could do to bring back some of the 'Joie De Vivre' in his life. He has no interest in his garden anymore, and the family rarely see him. It seems that there is no middle ground with him. Anyway... fingers crossed for a successful outcome tomorrow and an end to his worries... let's hope that this September baby will remind him what life is all about!

Have a great week all of you... lots of love
Hayls
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Time to Confess...

So, its time to come 'out of the closet' so to speak. My burgeoning stomach has made it impossible to hide the fact any longer: I am well and truly up the duff, it seems :-)

Mark and I are absolutely delighted. I am currently 14 weeks and 2 days pregnant (like, who is counting... ahem), so am well and truly in my second trimester apparently! We had the scan a couple of weeks ago, and "Piglet" as he/she is more commonly known is measuring a couple of days ahead of what he/she should be, and looks like a very healthy little specimen... Piglet was asleep throughout the scan (must remember to eat breakfast before-hand next time!), and seemed to be laying face downwards "gutter stylee" (as my friend put it)...

Anyway... I just wanted to warn you that this blog could become very boring in the next few months - as I wax lyrical about a myriad of minor yet painfully embarrassing medical complaints (have I mentioned my constipation and excess hair yet?), and then go on to simper over my undoubtedly beautiful and truly angelic child... those of you with a delicate constitution should delete your bookmark to this site now ;-)

In case any of you are wondering (I know I would be - but I don't care even if you are not) - NO, I haven't had any morning sickness at all (yay!), YES I have put on a vast amount of weight already (including one particular area(s) of my body that believe me does not need any help), NO I don't know what sex it is yet (I fancy it is a boy for no particular reason other than intuition, but would be delighted whatever it is), NO we are now rushing off to get married, and NO we haven't picked any sensible names yet. Mark's suggestions so far constitute "Eric Von Hipple", "Jimmy Hill", and "Bungle Gaylord"! I have decided to go back to work after six months or so off, and have even sussed out a nursery I like in my local area. I apologise now if that offends your sensibilities as a parent, but we all do things differently... and as it goes, that's the last apology I make for our decisions ;-) I like to get things straight up front (hormones? me?).

Tomorrow I have my 'triple test' blood test. Wish me luck... I am hoping and praying that all is fine with this long awaited little one. The sonographer at the hospital mentioned that the 'nuchal fold' was small on the scan (this nuchal fold can be indicative of Downs if enlarged), so let's just hope that that is a good indication.

Anyway... am off to pottery!
Speak soon
Hayls
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